Ashley Graham’s Most Inspiring Quotes From Her Book – Celebrities

From her Instagram page to her media interviews, Ashley Graham has proven time and again that she’s committed to being body-positive and size-inclusive. Now, the Vogue and Sports Illustrated cover model’s just-released memoir, A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like, gives fans a deeper look at her life and values. In the book, Graham recalls the experiences that inspired her, from the moment she decided that she didn’t need approval from others to what made her fall in love with fitness.

Here, we’re sharing the most empowering quotes from Graham’s memoir, on sale at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other retailers.

On tapping into inner strength

“As hard as it is, owning who you are and knowing what you want is the only sure path to affirmation…I want women to know they can get out of any situation if they return to their core source of strength: themselves.”

On the real definition of “healthy”

“You can’t change your body for a moment or an event, like getting married. I’m all for making lifestyle changes based on long-term goals or health decisions. But if you diet or exercise just for a date or high school reunion, you will never be happy with the results.”

“I’m simply not able to adhere to rules around deprivation when it comes to food. I’m going to want what I want. Just not as much of it. There are weeks when I’m really good about making the right choices. And trust me; there are weeks where I eat everything I want, in not such a good way. But I no longer carry such a heavy sense of guilt, because I feel I’ve found a good balance most of the time.”

“The biggest misconception is that the purpose of going to the gym is to change your body. We should be working out to be healthy. The idea of physical transformation can be so defeating for some women, because it is subjective (not to mention that people are overly critical when they look in the mirror.) Even if your body doesn’t change in the course of a year, it doesn’t matter: your fitness level will.”

On defying beauty norms

“It shouldn’t be okay for designers, who can make whatever they can dream up in their heads, to keep larger women out of their clothes—or for buyers to tell us how we will and won’t spend our money.”

“Too fat, too thin, too loud, too quiet, I was never going to fit the standards others created for me. Instead of complying, I protested.”

“I put myself out there, trying to prove that beauty is beyond size. It was risky, sure, but what I risked in terms of personal pride was nothing in comparison to what I was rewarded in terms of personal fulfillment.”

On why women should support one another

“Women get women. We understand each other when we are happy or sad, when we have our period, start a new job, or fall in love. We are typically the caretakers. Let’s take care of each other, start building each other up.”

“I wanted to be appealing—the girl you can trust and really talk to—so I vowed to myself early on that I would not belittle myself, no matter what anyone else said to me or how I felt about myself, privately.”

“My [Sports Illustrated Swimsuit] cover proved that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. There is no one standard for gorgeous.”